Dory Funk, Jr. Remembers Buck Robley

Dory Funk, Jr. has sent in the following:

On Sunday June 17th, 1973, Terry and I were setting in the dressing room in Clovis, New Mexico trying to figure an attractive card to bring back the next week. The difficulty was that Albuquerque also ran on Sunday night and Albuquerque was the hottest town in the Territory paying big money in cash the night of the show.

None of the wrestlers really wanted to be in Clovis working before a small crowd and small payday.

Our top heel in Clovis was Buck Robley. Buck was the kind of person who did what was best for business for everybody and for the good of the promotion he worked for.

Buck came over and talked to Terry and I. Buck said, “You guys are overloaded following the death of your Father. Why don’t you let me take Clovis and book the town. Albuquerque is hot and the business needs it to stay that way.” Buck said, “Give me Clovis. I will work here every week and I will build this town to the point that it is making money for the office and the wrestlers.”

Buck had a way with the wrestling talent and he could motivate them to work for what would be there in the future.

Every week Buck was in Clovis and booked the town in a way that each week wrestling fans got more than their money’s worth from the show and had more to look forward to the following week.

Buck’s success in booking Clovis created enthusiasm among the wrestlers of the Amarillo Territory and in a short time our talent was happy to work Clovis or Albuquerque.